Wimbledon: Sir Andy Murray relishing mixed doubles link-up with Serena Williams
Sir Andy Murray was not going to allow a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of playing with Serena Williams at Wimbledon to pass him by.
The Scot has teamed up with the 23-time grand-slam champion for the mixed doubles as he prepares to make his SW19 comeback.
Murray has not featured at the All England Club since 2017 due to injury, which eventually required a hip resurfacing, and while he is not playing in the singles, he is competing in both forms of doubles.
His long-awaited Wimbledon return will finally happen alongside men's partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Thursday on a court which is yet to be arranged, likely to be Centre or One, depending on which becomes available first after the three singles matches.
🎾🤔 If only one of these could happen at this year's #Wimbledon, what would you choose?
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🏆 Roger Federer winning his ninth Wimbledon title
🏆 Serena Williams winning a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam
🏆 Andy Murray winning either doubles title
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But it is his pairing with Williams which is demanding more interest.
After days of speculation about the possibility of teaming up together, it was finally confirmed on Tuesday after the 37-year-old, who has been troubled by knee problems for much of the year, gave the thumbs up after her opening singles match.
They were drawn against Germany's Andreas Mies and Chilean Alexa Guarachi in the first round, which looks set to be played on Friday.
Having lost two years of his career to his crippling hip problems, he did not want the chance of playing with someone of Williams' standing to go begging.
"I was talking to my wife about it, with everything that has gone on in the last couple of years, you don't know what's coming next, you don't know what's around the corner," he said.
"The opportunity of playing with Serena, arguably she is one of the best players of all time and the biggest female athletes ever, is something I might never get another chance to do and potentially I might not play mixed doubles again.
"If I am going to do it once, the chance to play with her is obviously brilliant and not something I expected to happen."
Murray confirmed that it is an opportunity that only came up in the last couple of days after their respective coaches spoke, but hopes to be able to practise with Williams for the first time on Friday ahead of their match.
"(Jamie) Delgado had a message from Patrick (Mouratoglou), asking if I was fixed up for doubles and would it be of interest to play with Serena. We chatted about it for a couple of days," he said.
"I knew she had some trouble with her knee this year, from both sides we wanted to see how her match went before making a final call on it.
"She felt fine yesterday and I saw her briefly today and she looks like she's up for it.
"It should be good. We will try and get on court together, probably not tomorrow because we are both playing, but maybe the day after."
It will be 723 days since Murray last stepped out on a Wimbledon court when he plays his men's doubles clash against Marius Copil and Ugo Humbert on Thursday and it is something he did not think was possible when he chose to go under the knife for his make-or-break surgery in January.
"It will be exciting to get back out there, I feel pretty relaxed now, but I am sure on the way to the court or in the morning I will be pretty nervous but nerves are good," he added.
"Hopefully it means I will play some good tennis.
"I was not expecting to play Wimbledon this year. With every week that passed I started to feel better, obviously I wanted to play here, if I had the chance I would have liked to play singles but that wasn't really given as an option by my team.
"I am happy with the decision, because I am happy just playing.
"I don't massively feel like I am missing out, I have got the opportunity to play in the doubles and mixed so I will enjoy that."Murray's mother Judy feels the fledgling partnership could be the "perfect match".
"It looks like a really strong partnership," she said.
"It's always difficult to tell in mixed doubles because you only have them in the grand slams, so nobody gets the chance to specialise in it or play it a lot.
"But they've both got form in singles and doubles, so hopefully they can be the perfect match."
Andy is also competing in the men's doubles with Pierre-Hugues Herbert as he continues his comeback after hip surgery.
The draw has thrown up a potential meeting with brother Jamie, a prospect Judy admits would be "torture" for her to watch.
"I've been fortunate that Andy's career has been in singles and Jamie's in doubles, so for family harmony it's been great," she added.
"But if it happens I'll go to the pub, and wait for a text."
The brothers cannot meet until the final in mixed, with Jamie and his American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands placed in the bottom half of the draw.
Williams' sister Venus is also playing mixed, with fellow American Frances Tiafoe, while 20-year-old British player Jay Clarke is partnering teenage sensation Cori Gauff.
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